Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada (born 1 July 1974) is an Ecuadorian retired race walker. He specialised in the 20 km event, in which he won the first two medals his country achieved in the Olympic Games.

Early life

Pérez was born in El Vecino, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Cuenca, to Manuel Jesús Pérez and María Lucrecia Quezada. Like others in his neighborhood, his family was of limited economic means. He attended the elementary schools Eugenio Espejo and Gabriela Cevallos. Afterwards he entered the Francisco Febres Cordero high school, at the same time working to help out his family. He graduated in Business Engineering and later obtained an MBA (Master in Business Administration) from the University of Azuay in Ecuador.

Career

Pérez entered race-walking by accident. To prepare for a walk that served as a high school physical education exam, he asked his brother Fabián to train for one week next to the group of athletes directed by trainer Luis Muñoz. Muñoz decided to invite him to compete in a race. With few weeks of preparation he won the race AID, winning the right of representing Ecuador in New York City and London as a sport ambassador. Initially he participated in distance competitions of six kilometers. Later he had to make a radical decision, which was to dedicate himself completely to race walking. His first regional trophy in the 5 km walk during the South American Pre-Junior championship held in his native city of Cuenca. His first international achievement occurred when he won the bronze medal in the Junior World Cup of Athletics in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1990. Two years later, he won the Junior World title in Seoul, Korea, followed shortly by victories in South American and Pan-American open competitions.

Olympic Games

Pérez won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, becoming the youngest ever Olympic race walk champion. Following his win he embarked on a 459 km pilgrimage, walking, jogging and running from Quito's Franciscan cathedral to his hometown of Cuenca. He won a silver medal, his second medal, at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He had fourth-place finishes in the 20 km walk at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

World Championships

Pérez won a silver medal at the 1999 World Championships in Seville. He then won three consecutive gold medals from 2003 to 2007 at the World Championships in Paris, Helsinki, and Osaka, the only person that has been able to achieve this feat. Pérez's winning time of 1:17:21 in 2003 became the first official world record for the 20 km walk when standards for road events were recognised from 2004 onwards and he received a financial bonus.

Retirement

Pérez walked his final race at the World Race Walking Challenge final in Murcia, Spain. He finished third in that race and second in the overall challenge standings. He announced his retirement from the sport in 2008.

Personal bests

International competitions

In popular culture

He appeared on Japanese TV show Hey! Spring of Trivia multiple times - in one episode, he tested how long it actually took to walk to a train station from an apartment advertised as "5 minutes away" (for him, it took under 2 minutes); in another, the show tested whether he would walk or run away when threatened (he ran).